Air Pollutants
What is smog mostly made up of?
ground level ozone
What is the colloquial name for a catalytic converter?
cat
Name one cause and one effect of climate change.
causes:
Generating Power
Manufacturing goods
Cutting down forests
Using transportation
Producing food
Powering Buildings
Over-Consumption
effects:
Hotter temperatures
More severe storms
Increased drought
Warming, rising ocean
Loss of species
Global rise in hunger
More health risks
Poverty and displacement
What is the purpose of Ozone?
The ozone that exists in the stratosphere protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, mostly the most intense radiation known as ultraviolet-B (UV-B).
What are the 3 major categories of impacts?
Noise, Light, Land & Environment
Name 3 out of the 5 major air pollutants emitted by the combustion of fossil fuels.
PM, SO2, NOx, HC, and CO
What regulatory act mandated the use of catalytic converters in the United States?
EPA Act of 1975
(will accept 1975)
How can CO2 emissions be minimized?
They can be minimized by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and geothermal.
Name three low level waste products of nuclear energy production.
Low-level wastes produced in nuclear power plants include gloves, towels, lab coats, filters, and other materials that may contain small amounts of radioactive material.
Name 3 of the 5 typical noise sources in renewables.
DC to AC Inverters
Wind Turbines
Battery Cooling Systems
T-Lines
Gas and Hydro turbines
What are the two types of particulate matter?
PM10 and PM2.5
In complete / ideal combustion, which two chemicals are created?
CO2 and H2O
Which primary greenhouse gas is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil?
Methane
The products of what item make up a majority of nuclear waste following fission?
fuel rods
What are the two biggest visual impacts of renewables?
Flicker and Glare
In a coal-fired power plant, the flying ash particles (flash) in combustion gases are removed and safely collected by a device/method called what.
Electrostatic Precipitator
Which vehicle type produces the most pollutants (in kg) per year?
motorcycles
Name the two primary components of greenhouse gases.
CO2 and water vapor
Free atoms of what element are responsible for the breakdown of ozone?
free chlorine (Cl) atoms
What is the WHO recommended maximum noise value for consistent noise?
45 dBA
Which method/unit is used effectively to control NOx emissions in gasoline engines?
catalytic converters
Who patented the first catalytic converter?
Eugene Houdry
Calculate the amount of CO2 emission from a midsize car, in g/mi and g/km, considering that the car gets 35 mi per gal of gasoline. Also, calculate the amount of CO2 released to the environment per year if the car is driven 12,000 mi/yr. Take the density of gasoline to be 740 kg/m3.
247 g CO2/mi
154 g CO2/km
2966 kg/yr
Describe the Ozone Depletion Process.
Dichlorodifluoromethane is photodissociated under the effect of intense UV radiation, yielding chlorine (Cl) atom.
The Cl atom easily reacts with ozone to produce chlorine monoxide (ClO) and oxygen molecule (O2), thus breaking ozone.
The Stratosphere also contains atomic oxygen (O) which reacts with ClO to produce Cl and O2 in the final reaction.
What is the Flicker length for a turbine with a height of 100 meters at an angle of 30 degrees at the nearest receptor?
65 m